Meliodas' eyes widened as he saw the figures forming in front of him. One of them was a very tall and slender humanoid demon with a body taking the appearance of red armor with knees and elbows covered in a sinister designed mask plate.
Another was a man with a small mustache and dark purple hair with a marking consisting of three lines on the right side of his face. He wore a white cloak covering most of his body, green leggings and bronze colored knee high boots.
The other next to him was a scantily clad well toned woman with spiky orange hair. She wore no clothes, using only darkness to cover her breasts along with her right leg and an entire left arm made of darkness.
Towering behind them was a massive giant with light blue skin, his head almost reaching the top of the massive room they were standing in. He had long brown hair and wore tattered orange pants. Where his left eye should have been has been replaced with scar tissue.
On the left shoulder of the giant was a skinny young man with pointy ears and long red hair. He was shirtless and wore baggy white pants. Coming out of his back were lustrous and rainbow colored butterfly-like wings.
"I didn't think I'd ever see your faces again…" Meliodas looked at the figures standing in front of him. "Galand, Monspeet, Derieri, Drole, and Gloxinia. You all should be dead."
"Oh but they are very much alive! My historias are given "life" from memories of your past!" Neinhart explained.
"Hahahaha! I can't believe it!" Galand exclaimed. "I finally get another chance to kill Mel-" The red bodied demon became silent immediately as he stared at Meliodas. His glowing green eyes wide with disbelief as his jaw dropped.
"I-Impossible…that power…no…"
"He's even stronger than he was at his prime." Drole commented.
Meliodas glared at the historias of the commandments standing in front of him.
"That would explain why they seem weaker than when they were alive. Although even if they were at their prime…"
Meliodas flared his magical power. Neinhart and Invel froze in place as they felt a tight pressure around their bodies. The historias created by Neinhart suddenly shattered like glass.
Neinhart fell to his knees, breaking down in a cold sweat.
"H-h-his presence alone caused my historias to break…"
Meliodas took a step forward towards Neinhart, but at that instant, the world around him seemed to stop. Everything around him became gray and lifeless without motion, except for one figure he recognized approaching him.
"That magic of yours is quite something. Makes my skin crawl even when I'm far away from the castle." Dimaria commented as she changed her path and started to circle around Meliodas.
"I didn't think it would be you though. I thought I cut your head off back at Caracole Island." Dimaria continued pacing around Meliodas and reached for her blade at her hip.
As Dimaria gripped the handle of her sword, she froze in place as she noticed despite Meliodas's body not moving, his eyes were following her walking around him.
"T-that…no…that's not possible…" Dimaria reassured herself. She drew her blade and swung at Meliodas' head.
Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her arm and her sword and arm fell to the ground. She immediately jumped back and grunted in pain as she held where her arm was with her other hand, blood gushing between her fingers. To her surprise, Meliodas was still in the same position he was standing in.
"I-Impossible…he didn't move…what just happened?!"
"Well, well, well." Meliodas said, causing Dimaria to freeze. Meliodas turned his head to look at her, followed by the rest of his body and started walking towards her.
"So this is the trick you used to behead me before." Meliodas commented.
"NO…IT CAN'T BE…ONLY THOSE WHO CAN CONTROL TIME CAN-" Dimaria stopped as a realization hit her as Meliodas was nonchalantly walking to her inside of stopped time.
"Y-you've…surpassed Chronos…" Dimaria said under her breath. She clicked her teeth and time all around them resumed as normal.
"Dimaria?" Invel questioned. He looked at Dimaria's arm that was on the ground next to Meliodas holding a sword. 'There's no way…he was able to move inside of her stopped time?! That's something only His Majesty can do!'
From behind Invel, five missiles flew by his head, heading straight towards Meliodas. Meliodas looked at the missiles and they were immediately cut into tiny pieces, exploding right in front of him.
"He's quite fast. He drew his blade so quickly, my sensors couldn't even pick up the movement." A robotic voice said from behind Invel. Invel turned his head and saw a tall, oddly shaped man with unnaturally long arms. He had a big oval shaped face and hair that jutted upward like an antenna. He wore a black high collared jacket, a striped sweater, and tight jeans. Around his neck was a green scarf.
"Wall, you're late." Invel said.
"I had to recharge my system after all. Now…" Wall's eyes began to glow and he looked at Meliodas.
"E-ERROR…ERROR 404." Wall said. "No weakness found."
"What?! What do you mean no weakness?! Scan again!" Invel ordered.
Meliodas ignored Wall scanning him and instead began looking around.
"I thought there were twelve of you. But I can only feel the magic of you four in the palace. Guess you all haven't assembled here yet. I was hoping to wait to get rid of all of you at once but it looks like I'll just have to pick them off later."
Meliodas raised both arms above his head, creating a huge mass of darkness. He hurled the darkness at the four of them causing those who were standing to immediately fall to the ground.
"This pressure…I can't move my body…or even use my magic…" Invel grunted as the force exerted on him grew stronger and stronger to the point where he could hear his bones starting to crack.
"ERROR…WEAKNESS NOT FOUND…ERROR…" Sparks began to shoot out of Wall's body as it was crushed into a flat piece of metal.
Next to him, Invel noticed that both Dimaria and Neinhart had already passed out.
'Damn…this is the end…this guy can move inside of Dimaria's stopped time, fight off the historias with ease, and he is unaffected by my ice…I don't think the other Spriggan can fight a monster- no… a demon like this…'
Invel looked up one more time at Meliodas. Meliodas was slowly closing his hands, causing the darkness to grow heavier the closer his hands got to becoming a fist.
"I apologize for being late. It took a while to finish the array." A figure suddenly appeared behind Meliodas. Invel noticed a strange shift in Meliodas' demeanor as he turned his head to look at the figure and the darkness that was constricting them grew ever so slightly weaker.
Standing behind Meliodas was a relatively tall, fair skinned old man. He had black eyes and lengthy, wavy gray hair parted in the middle along with a short gray mustache and long wavy beard. He wore a long white purple robe with five lozenge shaped spikes jutting out from the back of the robe. In his right hand he held a wooden staff.
"The Wizard King…" Meliodas said.
"I'm honored that someone of your caliber knows my title. But you cannot remain here." August tapped his staff on the ground and a bright light shot up from beneath Meliodas, engulfing him completely. The darkness surrounding Invel, Neinhart, Dimaria, and Wall's remains had faded along with Meliodas' body completely.
"Did…you kill him?" Invel asked as he lay sprawled out on the ground, unable to move.
"No. I do not possess a single technique in my entire arsenal of magic with the capability to kill that man." August responded. "I merely moved him somewhere else. Somewhere far away where he cannot get in the way of our plans for the time being. This trick isn't something we can catch him off guard with again."
Invel looked off into the distance before asking. "What happens if he returns?"
August remained silent for a moment before answering. "Then we have to hope his majesty accomplishes his task before that happens."